Population Dynamics in the LDCs

Challenges and Opportunities for Development and Poverty Reduction

This report, prepared for the 2011 UN Conference on Least Developed Countries, outlines major population dynamics in LDCs and addresses their implications for development and poverty reduction. It identifies five areas of intervention that can help countries anticipate, shape and plan for changes in their population. These areas include: focusing investments on adolescents and youth; increasing access to sexual and reproductive health care and empowering women; strengthening capacity to integrate population dynamics in the framework of sustainable development; linking population to climate change; and effectively utilizing data in public policy and development.

According to the latest survey of the United Nations Population Division, about three-quarters of the governments of LDCs are concerned with major demographic shifts projected to impact them: high fertility, high population growth and rapid urbanization.

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